The Captain looked at Noah and blurted out a new stream of words. This time, however, the tone was of adoration. "Who is this man whom the G.o.ds favor? Where do you come from? Who is your G.o.d that we may worship him? Are you a G.o.d that you tame Leviathan?"

Noah listened, astonished.

Uriel grinned. "It appears I am not your only guardian."

Noah felt overwhelmed. Words of poetry rose in Noah's heart: The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Leviathan. By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? And Noah knew that Elohim was his guardian who controlled even the sea dragon of chaos.

The Captain interrupted his pious thoughts, "We are going inland up the river for trade. Will you voyage with us?"

"I see you are a lucky charm as well," quipped Uriel under his breath to Noah.

Noah said to the Captain, "We will go as far as Erech."

Noah paused. He could see that Uriel thought he might still be sidetracked by his old desire for revenge. But he quickly put that thought to rest. "From there," he said, "we trek into the Zagros Mountains."

Uriel sighed with deep relief. They were going to look for the Hidden Valley where Methuselah and Noah's tribal survivors had been sent. Noah was going to find them and build the box. If they were even alive.

Chapter 19.

The merchant vessel docked on the river port wharf of Erech, just inland from the coast where Ur and Eridu stood near the marshlands. The river made a wide delta at this point, about seven hundred cubits across, creating sufficient room for a well traveled trading port. The Euphrates flowed long from the northern mountains down to the Lower Sea in the south. The river, along with its eastern sister river the Tigris, was one of the four main tributaries that flowed from Eden. Together, they were the lifeblood of the Mesopotamian cities along its banks. Like all river civilizations, life ebbed and flowed with the seasonal effects of the river. Even civilization would ultimately ebb and flow with the rivers, for the loose winding curves of water were already beginning to alter course through the flat plain powered by the changing seasonal flooding.

It was spring. The river was high and the surrounding irrigation ca.n.a.ls for agriculture were flooded in preparation for fertilizing the soil after the dry summer and winter months.

The surroundings puzzled Noah. By his reckoning, it had been summer when they had stormed the Gates of Ganzir on Mount Hermon and plunged into the Abyss on their journey in Sheol. How long had he been down there? It felt like weeks, but not a year.

The Captain hugged Noah and Uriel to bid them farewell. He had given them Indus Valley robes to wear, along with a small amount of money for their blessing upon his ship. It was the least he could do in grat.i.tude. Noah had told him all about his G.o.d Elohim and how he created the heavens and the earth and humankind. He told him of the Fall and of faith, about the idolatry of the G.o.ds of the land, and about the judgment that drew nigh. The Captain and his entire boat were convinced and put their faith in Elohim.

They showered gifts of grat.i.tude upon Noah and Uriel, which helped the pair in more than one way. First, they needed supplies and second, with their attire, they would not look like strange foreigners sauntering around the city.

As they walked down the plank of the ship to the dock the first thing they noticed was that everyone was shaved hairless and had elongated skulls with skin tattoos. Noah remembered that this kind of physical alteration was reserved for temple and palace servants of the G.o.ds, not the average citizenry. Yet as they walked the dock, it appeared that every inhabitant of the city now partic.i.p.ated in the sacred ident.i.ty with Anu. How could this have all happened within a few months? It did not seem possible.

He also noticed the presence of many horses and the distinct absence of onagers for travel use. He knew horses were just being introduced into the region and that the various cities were breeding them. But there were so many here. It just did not make sense that this kind of change could have happened without years of development and planning.

His gaze dwelt on the architecture. It was not the same. The buildings seemed taller than he remembered. He did not recognize the look of some of the city. Then he realized they had been walking down the very street where he had been paraded on the cart as captive of the G.o.ds. It was the same street, but it looked different. He had not had time to notice details of architecture while he was being pelted with rotten vegetables while transported on a cart of shame. But even so, this was different. The buildings seemed built up.

At the end of the street, they came upon the brick-making pit. Emaciated slaves crawled in it, creating mud bricks in the hot sun with sand, straw and mud. Stone was non-existent in the area, so mud brick was the main means of building structures along with some wood from the cedar forest. But again, Noah noticed that there were more slaves here than he had ever seen before. The brick making area was three times the size he remembered, and he guessed there were over a thousand slaves down there. Was his memory failing him?

A contingent of bird-men soldiers marched past them in the streets. Noah and Uriel pulled their cloaks up to cover their faces. They found a stable and bought two horses for their journey ahead. They stepped out into the street and saw the temple district of Inanna at the end of the street. Noah felt drawn to it as if bidden by some unseen force.

They arrived at the end of the market street by the entrance to the temple. Another large contingent of bird-men soldiers pa.s.sed by. The military presence of these creatures seemed excessive to him. But the sight before them would raise that level of excess to new heights.

Across the street stood the entrance to the temple of Inanna. Its curved oval walls rose high over the street, casting a shadow on the long line of hundreds of male patrons waiting the fulfillment of their l.u.s.ts with eager antic.i.p.ation. The temple of Inanna was a house of sacred prost.i.tution. Every young woman of the city was required to enter the temple of Inanna and engage in the act of sacred prost.i.tution at one point in her early years.

Minstrels playing lute and pipe beckoned the men come hither. Caged portholes embedded in the walls near the entrance hosted erotically dancing women. But these were unnatural women. They were four-armed blue G.o.ddesses from the Indus Valley. They swirled swords in fluid motions to the music. Strings of human skulls hung from the floors of their cages. Inanna was the G.o.ddess of s.e.x and war, so she had a way of synthesizing the s.e.xually perverse with instruments of violence. Noah had heard there were rooms of s.e.xual torture hidden away behind the walls of the temple. If they were just rumors or gossip before, they were certainly the truth reflected in what he saw now.

It made him sick to his stomach. Yet he knew this depravity was not entirely alien to his own soul. The same evil that these men imbibed in was the same evil in all men, including him. Their inclinations had simply been fed and nurtured instead of suppressed and overcome by faith. This moral decadence was not as bizarre as it appeared. It took humility for Noah to recognize and acknowledge that what disgusted him in what he saw could easily become an insatiable craving, if he made choices that began simple and small and grew over time. Evil was not "other." It was with him, within him.

Noah said simply, "I see her worship is popular." Then he added, "I was wheeled through these streets when I was first captured. But this is different. More wicked. More vile." He shook his head at his own understatement, for it was as if the entire city was possessed by demons.

"I need to tell you something, Noah," said Uriel, breaking him out of his trance. "How long were you in Tartarus?"

"Days?" said Noah. "Weeks. I lost track."

"In the depths of Sheol, it is as if time stops," said Uriel.

"Yes," said Noah. "Exactly." Then he noticed Uriel staring at him without responding.

"What are you saying?" Noah asked.

"While you were in Tartarus, up here on earth one hundred years have pa.s.sed."

Noah became dizzy as the reality hit him in the gut. "One hundred years?" He could not believe it. His breath shortened. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go.

"Yes," said Uriel. "The world has worsened. Every intent of the thought of man's heart is continually evil."

Another unit of bird-men soldiers marched past them. Uriel added, "And the G.o.ds are preparing for war."

"With whom?" asked Noah.

"With Elohim-and the seed of Eve," said Uriel.

Before Noah could appreciate the full impact of that statement, an earthquake surprised them. They lost their footing just a little. But people around them went about their normal lives as if nothing had happened.

Uriel said to Noah, "Birth pangs of Elohim's wrath."

Noah saw that the heavens were not the same. It was like the entire universe was transforming around him in preparation for something terrible.

"We have not much time," said Uriel. "We must reach the Hidden Valley."

Noah and Uriel mounted their horses. They galloped past the Temple of Inanna on their way out of the city. They headed toward the Zagros Mountains.

Chapter 20.

Behind its outer walls, the Temple of Inanna was another world. When they entered the bronze gates from the dusty barren city streets, patrons became submerged in a world of sensuality, a garden of earthly delights. Lush flora filled the open courtyard: exotic fruit trees with dates, figs, and pomegranates. Tamarisk and palm trees rose above the floor in a canopy of leaves. The complex artificial irrigation channels of the city watered this botanical paradise of flowers and vegetation. A wisp of incense mixed with perfume wafted through the air, teasing the nostrils. The temple and palace gardens replicated a memory of Eden. It was as if G.o.ds and kings sought to retain their ancestral past even as they perverted it into its mirror opposite.

The male patrons filed into the garden and browsed for the prost.i.tute of their desire. The women lounged within the vegetation, available for the picking. It was hard to believe an arboretum of such carnal appet.i.te could be any more unusual. But it was. Among the objects of l.u.s.t available were animal hybrids of perverted male obsession: an obese woman with the head of a cow, another with reptilian skin, a dwarf with a tail and hooves, a deathly thin giantess with spindly arms and legs. There were dog-headed and pig-headed women. There were even woman-headed dogs and pigs. Though the temple workers used potions and herbs as abortifacients in this circus of horrors, the occasional pregnancy occurred, whereupon the infant would be left on the street to die or be eaten by dogs. The violation of the created order had spread so deep, the judgment of G.o.d could not be closer.

Past the copulation chambers and the priestly and servant antechambers loomed the sanctuary that housed the stone statue of Inanna. The idol towered over five cubits, carved from diorite, a dark grey volcanic rock imported from the northern regions. A libations and purification priest, called an isib, carefully attended to the new image that adorned the sacred s.p.a.ce.

The original idol had fallen over and broken in half in the last major earthquake. This would not bode well for Inanna's reputation, so the priests had a new statue created in the idol workshop. From there, a holy procession brought the idol down to the river. It was placed in a reed hut specially erected for the "opening of the mouth" and "washing of the mouth" rituals. These ceremonies ritually purified the stone, and called down the deity to enliven the statue with her spirit. The mouth would first be washed multiple times with varying combinations of water, honey and ghee. A priest then engaged in various incantations of birthing the G.o.ddess in the image. It was not that they believed the image itself to be the G.o.ddess, but that it embodied the deity's presence and dominion. Noah would have seen it as another b.a.s.t.a.r.dization of Elohim's representative image in mankind ruling on earth. In effect, the statue was "born in heaven and made on earth." The damaged statue was mourned and cast into the river. The new one, embodied with the deity in a kind of resurrection from the netherworld, was brought back up into the sanctuary for its residence.

Images were ideal for the agenda of the G.o.ds. They provided a means whereby they could keep the focus of humankind on an object of this world instead of the unseen presence of Elohim. At the same time, the idols would root that concrete connection to themselves. Anu and Inanna were loath to make themselves too visible to the population. They knew that physical absence reinforced a sense of mystery and reverence in the worshippers. The less they appeared to the ma.s.ses, the more awe-inspiring their rare manifestations were. But the stone kept the eyes of humanity on them even when they were absent.

The isib priest poured out libations and checked the idol's braces and security. It had already withstood the latest rumbling of earth, but he wanted to be sure it would be able to withstand a more rigorous quake. Like all those in the service of the G.o.ds, the isib had an elongated skull, was shorn of all hair, and carried the tattoos and piercings of the deity on his body beneath his multicolored linen robes. He was not one of the eunuchs. He was being groomed by Lugalanu himself to become a sanga, the next highest level of priest, an administrator with an eye toward becoming an ensi, the high priest.

A female temple servant slipped unnoticed into the room and whispered to the isib.

"Ham."

Ham, son of Noah, the child taken from Emzara a hundred years before, had grown into a well-educated son of Lugalanu, the priest-king. Though this was not official, it might as well have been, for Lugalanu had groomed him from birth for such a n.o.ble end. Ham knew that Lugalanu loved his mother Emzara and was still trying to persuade her to marry him, and that this was why he loved Ham as his own. He still could not understand just why his mother was so stubborn after so many years. Her att.i.tude kept her, by temple regulation, from being in communication with her own son. If she would only marry the priest-king, she would be allowed to visit with her son because of her exalted status. She could then avoid the difficulty of secret rendezvous.

Ham turned to see his beloved Neela hiding in the shadows. They had married recently. His new rank as isib allowed him the privilege of matrimony disallowed to the eunuchs and lesser temple priests. Though his court name was Canaanu, both Emzara and Neela had earned the privilege of calling him Ham in private.

Ham held out his arms and bid her come. Neela whisked over and they embraced with a deep kiss. She was fifty years his junior, full of s.p.u.n.k and excitement for life. Something about Neela's desert descent made her stand out from the Mesopotamian pa.s.sivity. She was curious, pa.s.sionate, and headstrong, but she filled his life with such playfulness and hope that he could not live without her. And she could sense his every mood.

"My love, you are weary," said Neela. "What is Lugalanu waiting for? He should initiate you into the high priesthood and be done with it."

"Neela. First of all, the initiation only occurs on the New Year Festival, and I am still an office away from ensi. I must become a sanga first. That will take years."

"Years," she repeated with contempt. "Bah! Why must it take so long? You are a leader among men."

Ham smiled. "I thank you for your support, dear wife, but there is an order to things. You know full well we hurt ourselves if we violate the order of the G.o.ds. There are secrets I have not yet been initiated into."

"What secrets?" she said.

"How can I know if I have not been initiated, silly? And if I did, I certainly could not tell you."

He smiled and kissed her again.

She teased him, "To become a priest of Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, is no small thing for such a humble servant."

He teased right back, "But to be husband of Neela, the Queen of my heart, is an altogether exhaustive thing."

"Come, let me exhaust you, husband," she whispered.

She could see he was not all there. "Are you thinking of your mother?" she asked.

He could not respond with the obvious yes.

The arrival of the Temple Guard interrupted them. Lugalanu stepped through the guards and into the room.

Neela immediately bowed in obeisance and backed out toward the back room exit. Ham knelt before his king.

"Lord Lugalanu, I am your servant."

"Canaanu, my isib of Inanna, how do you fare?" Lugalanu replicated the lighthearted att.i.tude of Anu in his own dealings with inferiors. Like G.o.d, like son.

"Well, my lord," replied Ham.

"Excellent, excellent," he said, looking around the sanctuary. "I applaud you. The G.o.ddess' temple is well kept, and I see you have taken special care of the new image of our high and mighty Queen of Heaven."

Ham detected a slight sarcasm in the tone. He knew that Lugalanu wearied of kowtowing to Inanna's intemperate volatility. But it was not something they talked about. Lugalanu knew it would be injudicious to instill such conflict of interest with the very priest he was preparing for her service.

Ham did not know that Lugalanu only made him a priest of Inanna in order to persuade Emzara to love him. Unfortunately, it had not worked out the way he had hoped. Lugalanu had suffered every day since then. Lugalanu had thought it might force Emzara to compromise, but it only hardened her resolve. He hoped that watching her son become increasingly involved in the priesthood of a G.o.d she hated would at least burn on her soul with a pain equivalent to what she caused him.

"Canaanu," said Lugalanu. His tone changed, becoming more serious. "All these years, you know I have considered you a son."

It was a plea for his love. Ham looked downward submissively.

"If I may, exalted one, then why would you keep your son from his mother?"

The inquiry was certainly respectful in tone, but it was still a cloaked challenge. Lugalanu liked that about Ham. "You are so much like your mother. You know full well the servants of Inanna do not mingle with the servants of Anu. It is not in my authority to challenge the covenants of the kingdom."

Hierarchy in the priestly caste was strictly enforced as a code of holiness. It was ironic that the kingdom built upon violation of the separation of the created order should maintain its own rigid separations and distinctions of sacredness. Of course the king was fully capable of determining exemptions as he pleased, so his motives were not as altruistic as they appeared.

Lugalanu continued, "Nevertheless, you are being groomed to become a high priest of the Queen of Heaven, so it is time for your introduction to the secrets of the Watchers."

Ham caught his breath. This was an opportunity he had coveted for years. Initiation into the secrets of the Watchers was both a sacred privilege and a dangerous responsibility. These G.o.ds, who had come from heaven to earth, had revealed many secrets to mankind, secrets of sorcery, apothecary, charms and enchantments, witchcraft, as well as astrological worship and the making of idols and their ritual incantations. They had also revealed the art of metal making for both ornament and war. The thought of admission into this cabal of mystery made Ham's entire being well up with exhilaration.

He followed Lugalanu out of the room toward his destiny.

They both did not realize that Neela had been hiding behind the statue of Inanna the entire time and had heard it all. Her pride in her husband made her body tingle with excitement. Her curiosity overwhelmed her. What were these wonderful "secrets of the Watchers?"

Chapter 21.

Lugalanu led Ham down a circular stairwell deep into the recesses of the earth below the temple complex of Eanu. The spiral brick staircase spun downward like a chambered nautilus sea sh.e.l.l. Lugalanu lit an occasional wall torch for their return trip.

Neela followed them in the shadows. She kept a safe distance to avoid detection, and she scurried along barefoot to silence the sound of her steps.

At the bottom of the dizzying staircase lay a series of twisting pitch-dark corridors. Fortunately for Neela, the hallways continued to be lit by Lugalanu's torch like a path of bread crumbs. Fear rose in her liver. There were so many turns, she began to lose her bearings. She worried that she could not find her way out if she found herself alone and without the lit torches. She could become a prisoner of the darkness, possibly even die down here. But it was too late to turn back. She had pa.s.sed the point of no return and would have to continue on in hope she would be all right.

She had lived with risk all her life. As a little orphan servant girl of eight in the city, she found her way past all the guards, priests, and priestesses to the very top of the White Temple itself. Anu had found her so amusing and curious that instead of punishing her with death, he had rewarded her by appointing her to the temple staff of Inanna. For this act of kindness, Neela gave eternal grat.i.tude to Anu, because it was how she found her way into the sight and pa.s.sions of Ham. She continued in her stealth pursuit with a renewed sense of enthusiasm in her heart.

Lugalanu and Ham pa.s.sed a secret corridor that brought back emotional memories for Lugalanu. Down that pa.s.sage was the sealed burial chamber of his father, Lugalanuruku, the previous priest-king of Erech. He was named after his father, though he was the offspring of a Sacred Marriage rite, a yearly copulation ceremony between the priest-king and the high priestess of the G.o.ddess. The ritual ensured fertility of the land. Priestesses were considered royalty and so their children were often successors to the throne, though they would not abdicate their temple status.